Freezing Saddles 2018

[lordofthemark]

A wise man once said

Take care inviting weirdos to join. If you dont think the weirdo is going to join in the forum, or come to a happy hour, or join a group ride – maybe dont invite them. If on the other hand the weirdo likes reindeer games, and is interested in adopting a puppy, maybe they are perfect. Every year new people assimilate into our community during FS. But there are also those who sign up, never show up, never play – and we then have to deal with how to fix our game.

It was, I think designed to advocate/proselytize for the forum/for riding in winter/etc – but within above said limits. Its a subtle thing, I guess. Some people are better at sniffing out who is really a potential “convert” and who is just going to post some miles on strava than others are. Some just can’t contain their enthusiasm. And I guess some get cornered by neighbors asking them why they are riding around the block 10 times when its 10 degrees Fahrenheit and snow is falling.

[lordofthemark]

@jrenaut 167426 wrote:

I have no interest in pushing out or discouraging anyone who will be a good participant. But given that we have a limited number of spaces available, it is better for everyone if those spaces go to people who want to participate. We can (and will, for pages) quibble over the definition of “participate”.

But this gets back to why I want to get rid of the Slackers Team and move more towards a non-competitive participant group. I want people to come out and ride and join groups and do what makes them happy. My first BAFS event was a final happy hour before I had ever participated. I came to hang out with forum friends and thought it was awesome and have played every year since.

I’m open to TwoWheels idea that kicking off non-participants falls to the captains. It doesn’t really satisfy my bloodlust, but it’s probably a better solution in the long run.

I can see that leading to real bad feelings. Harder to get mad at an algorithm.

[cvcalhoun]

@lordofthemark 167428 wrote:

And I guess some get cornered by neighbors asking them why they are riding around the block 10 times when its 10 degrees Fahrenheit and snow is falling.

I once got stopped by a concerned police officer who was sure I must have been accidentally caught out in snow that didn’t start until after I left home. The idea that I might have chosen to go out in a blizzard was apparently not something he contemplated.

[jrenaut]

@lordofthemark 167429 wrote:

I can see that leading to real bad feelings. Harder to get mad at an algorithm.

A captain wouldn’t just kick a team member off – it would only be after a few attempts at contact, some warnings, etc. At the end of the day, I’m not terribly concerned with the feelings of those who take one of a limited number of spots, don’t use it, and get mad when it’s taken away.

[jrenaut]

@cvcalhoun 167431 wrote:

I once got stopped by a concerned police officer who was sure I must have been accidentally caught out in snow that didn’t start until after I left home. The idea that I might have chosen to go out in a blizzard was apparently not something he contemplated.

Strangely, I’ve never had anyone stop me for being weird. Not even that time I met a participant neighbor at 12:01AM at a CaBi station to ride around the block in flurries before a big snowstorm the next day. That is definitely a life goal, though

[bobco85]

The underlying question behind nearly every FS discussion that needs to be answered is this: What is the point of Freezing Saddles? (I think everyone has a different answer to this)

I think Freezing Saddles is a competition designed to advocate for cycling in non-ideal conditions which winter tends to be more than willing to provide. It is designed to challenge folks, whether they be a casual weekend rider or a hardcore double-digit weekday commuter or anything between, to try to bike even a little during the time of year that many just say, “It’s just too tough to bike now.” Freezing Saddles gives folks a dose of healthy peer pressure that even though a lot of folks stop biking in winter, here is this group who are interested and are actually doing it, and they’re badass. This leads to the idea that cycling can be done at least 365 days a year for anyone willing to put in the effort and gets more people invested and involved in the cycling community, diverse and disparate as it may be at times.

Keeping that in mind, here’s what I would request for FS2018:

• Participation – riders should be registered and at least minimally involved on the forum, folks on this forum are what brought this whole thing together
• Teams – teams should only have folks willing to ride at least once every 2 weeks, everyone else goes to Slackers team
• E-bikes – yes – biking in the winter is about grit and determination, not athletic prowess
• Team rides – add an incentive for teammates to ride with each other; teams able to do so should get a point bonus (e.g., add 5 points per person per group ride per day to the team score)
• Prizes & Side Bets – yes – this has become such a diverse and bizarre range of prizes that really help make Freezing Saddles so much fun. Keep them coming!
• Serious Fun – my term for group activities that are fun yet still organized and competitive – let’s keep Freezing Saddles that way!

It’s snowing here in Tukwila, so I must go for a ride 😎

[accordioneur]

@DrP 167368 wrote:

Also, illness. While injury can mean someone is completely out, and then being off the team may be appropriate, a cold or the flu may take you out for a few days, but you can be back to riding the following week.

On March 9th of this year I received a call from my doctor. She advised me to immediately cease exercising because of something worrisome she had noticed on a test result. This kicked off a series of events which led to my missing the last ten days of FS. I would have been ticked off if I had been kicked off my team because I disappeared at the very end.

A little known fact: At the time my doctor called I was on my way out the door to go mountain biking. I went for the bike ride first – then ceased exercising.

[Judd]

I think we should all just agree that we’ll use the same rules as last year and that the beauty of Freezing Saddles is that it’s what you make of it. Also Hains Point Miles should count triple.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[cvcalhoun]

@Sunyata 167349 wrote:

I am a glutton for punishment… And will do it again this year.

However, I do have some suggestions to make my job a bit easier…

Regarding forum name: Please specifically name the forum on the registration page. That was a source of issue last year. Feel free to name it as the Bike Arlington/Washington Area Bike Forum.
Please also say that participants must have at least one post on the forum. This will eliminate the issue of people signing up, never making a post, and then their forum name gets kicked off after six months.

Any registrations that are not complete (including a working forum name and Strava account, I will be checking) will be immediately placed in File 13. My job responsibilities have changed this year and I will not have time to track people down.

That being said: You may want to specify that the email address they give will be utilized to contact them in case of an issue with their registration. Any emails not answered within 48 hours will be deemed an incomplete registration and they forfeit their team assignment.

Can you change the ringer question and make it required? I want everyone to answer the question about estimated weekly mileage, even if they participated last year.

Also, can you remove the question about being a slacker? There were SO many people that clicked that box who had never participated before or did not understand what being a slacker meant and I had to shuffle the teams around when people got upset that they were not placed on a team. Those that want to be slackers can just email/PM me. I can coordinate that without registration info.

I think that about sums it up for the registration form. Thanks for doing this Carol!

All changes made! You can check it out to see whether I did them all correctly, and whether you have other suggestions. And thanks for volunteering again!

With regard to telling people who sign up after the deadline that they will be alternates in case of no-shows, we have done that in every prior year. In effect, we switch to a page with a different heading once we reach the 250 people, and that tells them that they can only be alternates.

[Bob James]

@Judd 167380 wrote:

I vote same teams as last year.

Except Team 10’s riders should be distributed to the other teams.

[Bob James]

I like the idea of more automatic points per ride (i.e. 20 or 30 instead of 10). That way, it is weighted more toward those who daily commute and use bike for transportation, rather than those like me who may ride longer miles per ride, but not every day. Though, I pledge to ride at least 2 miles per day for the round trip to Krispy Kreme or Starbucks.

[Bob James]

@FFX_Hinterlands 167421 wrote:

OK, I rode nearly every day last year, but not very far. I didn’t participate in any events, group rides, happy hours and the like. The scoring rules are set up so my short frequent rides put me as far ahead as someone who rode 2x week for 10+ miles. This should be about getting people out in the cold using their bike for transportation. I reject the idea of making it more dependent on long miles or events. I’d rather see more rain/snow/temperature-driven points to entice people to get out there every day.

I think the hardest part of winter biking is talking yourself into going out in the cold and then putting on all the cold weather gear required. So for me, the 1st mile is the hardest one and should be rewarded with the most points (more than 11).

[musclys]

@Sunyata 167349 wrote:

Please also say that participants must have at least one post on the forum. This will eliminate the issue of people signing up, never making a post, and then their forum name gets kicked off after six months.

Done.

Also, as a first-timer, I’m not in a position to add to any of the rules debate. Except that I will sign on with anyone who says no ebikes. Because they’re ebikes.

[jrenaut]

@Bob James 167483 wrote:

I like the idea of more automatic points per ride (i.e. 20 or 30 instead of 10). That way, it is weighted more toward those who daily commute and use bike for transportation, rather than those like me who may ride longer miles per ride, but not every day. Though, I pledge to ride at least 2 miles per day for the round trip to Krispy Kreme or Starbucks.

I could maybe get on board with this if the extra points kicked in after more than a mile. 1 mile is 11, 2 is 22, 3 is 33, then it’s a point per mile after? My only concern is that, if you look at the team rankings by mileage vs by points, they don’t really change much. This might be incentive for individuals to ride more (which is good, of course) but I don’t know that it would change the scoring significantly. Maybe that’s a good thing, too. I certainly don’t want to penalize people who ride a ton.

[Greenbelt]

Just wanted to throw in a pitch for the algorithm NOT kicking off riders for being away long stretches. We’re planning to be out of range for 2 weeks this season — Laurie and I take vacation in January/Feb, this year again in a no bikey type place. (Note, the teams I captained in that past have managed pretty good results in spite of my occasionally disappearing captaincy.) With love and so on, Jeff

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